Press Round-up – January 30

By Reuters Staff

January 30, 2012

Lloyd’s chief plans management changes
The chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group Antonio Horta-Osorio is set to unveil plans to simplify the bank’s management structure and hand more power to top executives, as he attempts to convince investors he can avoid a relapse of the exhaustion he suffered last year.(FT)Mining chiefs in secret meeting to halt tax rises
The heads of the world’s biggest mining companies met in secret in Davos last week to discuss ways in which to halt the growing threat of resource nationalism. (Times)

Europe’s carmakers hit out at India trade deal
Europe’s carmakers are crying foul over a proposed trade agreement between the European Union and India, which they say would restrict access to one of their most important but highly protected markets. (FT)

Nervous bankers braced for job losses
Nervous investment bankers in Britain are contacting headhunters in anticipation of a new wave of redundancies this year, while those already laid off are increasingly willing to accept temporary roles or positions overseas, according to senior figures in London’s recruitment industry. (FT)RBS to pay out investment bankers
Royal Bank of Scotland, the lender at the centre of a storm over its chief executive’s bonus, is to pay out as much as 1.5 billion pounds to UK bankers as it counts the cost of its disastrous foray into investment banking. (Telegraph)Deutsche Bank targets problem assets
Deutsche Bank is preparing to launch a fund to snap up investors’ illiquid or damaged holdings in hedge funds that have failed to recover since the financial crisis. (FT)

RBS on verge of Hoare Govett sale
Royal Bank of Scotland is on the verge of clinching a deal to sell Hoare Govett, its corporate broking business and one of the most venerable names in the City of London, to fast-growing U.S. investment bank Jefferies. (FT)

New battle for Torm amid tanker slump
Danish shipping company Torm A/S is struggling to find either a significant new source of finance or agree a wholesale restructuring of its obligations to its banks as it seeks to withstand the sector’s prolonged slump. (FT)

TNT Post prepares for direct challenge
TNT Post, Royal Mail’s largest private sector rival, plans to go head-to-head with the state-owned postal operator by launching its own delivery service for bulk and direct mail. (FT)